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One of the great things about these Amazon customer reviews is that they can alert you to wonderful books that you would otherwise not consider reading. "Humphry Clinker" is a prime example. An eighteenth-century epistolary novel may not sound too enticing and I would guess that few people other than students whose courses oblige them to, would read it these days. Well, I am here to tell you that you should! It is social satire at its brilliant best. Smollett was one of those great Scottish intellectuals (the philosopher David Hume was another) who despised their own culture and preferred everything English. This did not stop him satirizing English society mercilessly; it just meant he was even harder on his fellow Scots. The result is a novel that is a continual and wicked joy to read. The characters are finely drawn and their correspondence is written in very individual voices. We follow their adventures as they journey through England and Scotland in the years before revolution in America and France changed the world forever. It is a world obsessed with social class, money and advantageous marriage (so why did I say it changed for ever!). There is plenty of sharp humour and a deal of profound insight into human nature. Smollett's last and best novel, it is a wise and mature journal of Mankind�s folly. Incidentally, the graphic description of the town of Bath will make you never want to drink spa water again. Reading that particular chapter requires a strong stomach.
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